Nadaness In Motion is a book blog where honest book reviews meet author interviews, guest posts and personal writing ranging from poetry to short stories to the bi-weekly Takhayyal writing prompt challenge. ---
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Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Chergui's Child by Jane Riddell - Book Review

Chergui's Child by Jane Riddell is a story about
Olivia, a 30-something year-old woman, who is saddened by her aunt's passing
but surprised to know that her daughter, from a pregnancy a few years back, is
in fact alive.

"Through the glass
panel, diminished as if a magician had shrunk her body, lay my aunt, her hair,
nightdress, everything colourless, like the bleached hospital bedding."

Olivia's aunt leaves her
a significant fortune on condition that she goes to search for her daughter.

Chergui's Child has a strong opening with a death of
loved relative and a revelation from the early pages of chapter one.

I liked the contrasts in
family relationships between Olivia and her brother, Martin, and Olivia and her
father on one hand, and Olivia and her mother on the other. Both Olivia and Martin
call their mother by her first name, Nora, and neither seem to have any deep
emotions towards her.

"My inheritance would
further fuel her anger, as if past disappointments weren't enough. [My father]
would bear the brunt, of course – he always did. An urge overcame me to whisk
him and Martin away from this room of restricted behaviours."

There are flashbacks
from when Olivia was in love with her professor, Richie, whom we later know is
the father of her child. However, these are narrated in a matter-of-fact sort
of way, distancing the reader from the characters.

The book is said to span the London, France and Morocco.

I stopped reading at 50%, where the book had only moved in London and France, but the pace became too slow for me. By 50%, the reader still hasn't met the daughter.

I disliked Olivia and
found her to be very selfish, particularly in the fact that she was the second
woman to Richie, who was already married. While I did not finish the book to be
able to highlight character development, I felt the first half was slow and
disliked the main character.

There were many
beautiful lines and images in the novel and I liked Riddell's overall writing
style, but those were not enough to prompt me to continue reading Chergui's
Child (which is long overdue).

(Note:
I received a review copy of Chergui's Child from author Jane Riddell in
exchange for an honest review).